FORE!
I had the opportunity to play golf today. I first learned how to play golf when we had an exchange student from Sweden come live with us the year I turned twelve years old. His name was Jonas and he was an excellent golfer. He actually won state medalist for high school golf in Arkansas that school year. My father had played golf before I was old enough to remember, but it had been some time since he had. Dad decided to pick it back up so he could play with Jonas and taught my brother and I how to play. I’ve enjoyed playing ever since and even played on our high school golf team. I never made it so far as to even compete in the state medalist tournament, let alone win it, but I still had fun. Today was no different. I didn’t have a great round with a low score, but I enjoyed being out on the course and playing. Sometimes the ball went where I wanted it to go and sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes it went in the right direction, but was too long or too short. Other times it went too far to the right or to the left, and even was lost in the trees, bushes, or marsh grass occasionally. (Okay, so I lost five or six, but I found three.) Like a lot of things, to be good at golf you need to play frequently. Today was the first time I’ve played since February, so I really wasn’t expecting to play too well. I was happy to have had some good shots and tried not to get upset over the bad ones. What I had learned in the past when I played a lot helped me to do well, but since I don’t play frequently, my muscle memory wasn’t at its best and the consistency of my shots was lacking.
Our spiritual life needs good frequency. That daily time reading God’s Word and spending time with Him in prayer and meditation cannot be beat. That consistent communication with God helps us more than I think we can ever realize. When we have that consistent walk, we seem to have so much strength and confidence as we strive to live our lives for God. We may face difficult challenges, but because we are in closer fellowship with the Lord, our minds are focused more on the Word and how God would have us react to those situations in ways that please Him. But, when we slack off for a few days or weeks, our reliance on our past times with the Lord only go so far. Our strength is quickly zapped because it isn’t being recharged. Before we realize, we are losing battles and struggling because we aren’t plugged into the power source anymore. We become weak trying to hold it together on our own. When we stop just trying on our own, the wonderful thing is all we have to do is plug back in – simply turn to God and ask Him for help. We can open the Word and read, and His Spirit will begin to fill us with His strength. We can talk with God in prayer and let Him revive our spirits. Our strength can be restored and then we can tap back into God’s strength and let Him fight our battles and guide our steps and use us in accomplishing His will. Jesus speaks to His disciples and says in John 15:4-5 NLT, “Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” We need to stay connected with the Lord and walk with Him daily. Our daily, consistent walk with God in His Word and in prayer is essential nourishment for our spiritual lives.
Hitting a golf ball long and straight requires a lot of practice with good techniques. Consistently hitting a golf ball long and straight requires a lot of frequent practice with good techniques. Otherwise, it’s difficult to keep the ball in the fairway. We need daily time with the Lord to keep on the straight and narrow. And spending time reading the Word and praying is a whole lot easier than keeping your golf swing in order.
Bro. Paul Reed
Tuesday, May 25, 2021